Category: crime & punishment

It is that time of the month again, USFK has released their monthly court martial results. It was actually a very slow month with only five court martial and four off post incidents handled in the Korean courts and none of them very serious. Just a lot of typical stupid stuff, but the two DUIs in the ROK court are bit of a concern because that makes six DUIs in four months for USFK. That is not a good trend.

Now these two servicemembers convicted in Korean court I just have to wonder what the heck they did:

In Incheon District Court on 10 July 2007, Major Brenda J. Suggars, HHC, EUSA, was
convicted of Trademark Law violations. Her adjudged sentence was a 1,000,000 Won
fine.

In Incheon District Court on 10 July 2007, Sergeant First Class Malanie N. English,
524th MI, was convicted of Trademark Law violations. Her adjudged sentence was a
500,000 Won fine.

Trademark violations? Korea even enforces trademark laws? I wonder if they were selling off pirated DVDs and games? This is the first time I seen USFK servicemembers convicted for trademark violations so this is a new one on me. I have to wonder how often Koreans get arrested for trademark violations because all you have to do is take a stroll down to the Yongsan Electronics Market to see all the counterfeit goods being pedaled out in the open.

Anyway you can view the rest of the results below the fold:

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Add this to ever growing list of dubious GI convictions in the Korean court system:

Two U.S. soldiers were given jail sentences Friday for trying to rape an off-duty South Korean policewoman, though one of the soldiers claims he had nothing to do with the attack.

Pfc. Mark Feldmann, who repeatedly told the court he was outside trying to catch a taxi while Sgt. Anthony Q. Basel tried to rape the woman inside a public bathroom, shook his head as the chief judge delivered the sentences — 3 years for him, and 3½ years for Basel.

SGT Basel is a dirtbag and got what he deserved in this case.  However, PFC Feldmann’s case is definitely not so cut and dry.  I suspected from the very beginning that the police had a weak case because it took so long to bring charges against the soldiers.  With high profile GI crime cases charges are usually brought rather quickly.  When charges were finally brought against the soldiers in this case, it became clear why it took so long to bring those charges.  It was because the police had to get the lone witness to change his sworn statement of seeing only one soldier to suddenly seeing two soldiers at the scene.

The conviction of PFC Feldmann was so dubious that even the judge who announced the sentence recommended he appeal the dubious conviction:

When announcing the sentence, Chief Judge Lee Han-ju said the panel of judges he heads had a “very difficult deliberation” and that he hopes Feldmann appeals the sentence.

Feldmann’s attorney, Kim Jong-pyo, told Stars and Stripes after the proceedings that his client plans to do just that. Kim said the guilty verdict was “nonsense,” and Feldmann believes the verdict isn’t fair.

Kim said the judge’s statements about hoping Feldmann appeals show he “has no confidence in his decision.”

It is times like this when I refer everyone back to the word’s of Brendon Carr:

Beyond language difficulties is the prospect that South Koreans who give testimony might feel it culturally acceptable to lie, especially if it will increase their chances of winning bigger damages, Carr said.

"This culture," Carr said, "does not place the same value on truth or view the truth through the same prism that Americans do. There is very little social disapproval of making false official statements in order to achieve an objective for your friend or relative or for a tribemate."

"Once it breaks down to those Americans" versus us Koreans, many, many Koreans will perceive it as their duty to make sure that the Korean is the winner of the dispute. So there a lot of lying when witnesses come forward, Carr said.

This is not the first and will not be the last time that American soldiers are subject to dubious court rulings.  Korean courts aren’t about determining the truth and rendering justice, they are about validating perceptions and appeasing public sentiment.  The public sentiment says that Feldman is a GI bastard that needs to go to jail, thus he never stood a chance.  GIs always get convicted in Korean courts.  PFC Feldmann’s best hope now is to lodge the appeal and hope the appeals court suspends his sentence.  Justice is still hard to find for GIs in Korea. 

The Army Emergency Relief (AER) program is a non-profit that basically funded by donations from soldiers.  I contribute money into it every month.  The AER program uses the money to offer money to soldiers for emergency reasons.  The most often reason in Korea is for money for soldiers to buy a plane ticket to fly back home due to death or illness in the family.  AER will then decide whether to give a soldier a loan or an outright grant depending on the income status. 

As usual one scumbag has found a way to ruin a good program:

An Army staff sergeant was sentenced to one year of confinement and a bad-conduct discharge Thursday after admitting he helped scam an Army relief program and soldiers under his command out of $6,000.

Staff Sgt. Shane R. Martin, 40, admitted in a general court-martial that since fall of 2005 he had helped three soldiers get money from Army Emergency Relief, an organization dedicated to helping soldiers in need. Then, he asked each of the three soldiers for a cut, he said under oath.

This guy was in cahoots with an AER employee to get soldiers to apply for a loan for reasons such as because a family is suffering from Hurricane Katrina related problems and then the AER official would give out the money and cut it three ways.  I have to wonder how long this scam has been going on and how many more people have been getting away with it?  There is obviously very little checks and balances in place if such a fraud could so easily take place. 

The MP involved in the assault of a cab driver has been sentenced to 3.5 years in Korea prison.  This guy was a real idiot during his trial by having a mohawk, a goatee, not wearing his uniform, and refusing to pay compensation to the victim.  He definitely got himself a well earned vacation to Choenan. 

Mark provides more details on the case of GIs behaving badly in Uijongbu.  So what are the odds they get a fair trial?  About as good as PFC Acosta and PFC Bohman. 

Two soldiers in Uijongbu have been arrested for allegedly punching a man in the face for staring at them and pushing the victims girlfriend to the ground. 

Remember the Osan airman that went AWOL to only have his girlfriend from the ville turn him in?  Well he is back and in trouble again:

An airman was sentenced Monday to one year in jail and given a bad-conduct discharge for using three other airmen’s Social Security numbers to take out more than $14,600 in loans last year.

Airman Basic Christopher R. Neal, 23, pleaded guilty to taking the Social Security numbers from papers in the 51st Communications Squadron office, where he worked as a maintenance technician. He filled out online applications and received three loans from Pioneer Military Lending between March and July 2006.

So why did our troubled airman commit such crimes?  If only I had a dollar for every time I heard this excuse:

Neal, who was court-martialed late last year for being absent without leave, repeatedly told judge Lt. Col. John Hartsell on Monday that he was not thinking clearly when he got the loans.

“I was in love. I thought I was doing something to help my fiancee,” he said. “Not only did I end up hurting her, but I ended up here today, sir.”

The judge also ordered Neal to forfeit $867 of his monthly pay for the next 12 months.

So where did the money go?  You guessed it, straight to juicy:

Neal said he spent the loans — two of $6,000 each, and one for $2,690 — on groceries, rent and paying off some of his fiancee’s debts. He said it was easy to get the Social Security numbers, all from people who worked in his office.

Wait there is more:

He told Hartsell he wanted to show he could be a good husband to his fiancee, who has remained with him throughout his courts-martial and first imprisonment.

“She was the best thing that ever happened to me,” he said. “I used this money to help her start a new life, a new life for the both of us.”

We’ll see if she is still with him after a year in jail and no money coming in.  Unfortunately these stories are all to common in USFK and a by product of the ville culture that exists there.  The girls in the ville are like a drug and servicemembers like Airman Neal that get addicted to them will do things such as theft and fraud in order to feed their drinky girl habbit. 

The two USFK teenagers involved in the stabbing of a Taegu taxi driver have been found guilty and sentenced:

Two American teens accused of stabbing a Waegwon taxi driver celebrated Independence Day by walking out of a Daegu courtroom free Wednesday.

Marcus Banks, 18, who was convicted of the March 20 stabbing of taxi driver Park Sang-hui during a dispute over an unpaid taxi fare, was sentenced to two years and six months in prison, but the sentence was suspended for three years. His 16-year-old accomplice was sentenced on the same charges to one year and nine months in prison, but his sentence was suspended for two years.

Judge Yoon Jong-gu said he based his decision on the seriousness of the crime, the defendants’ ages and penalties for similar crimes in South Korea. The fact that both teens’ families paid the victim financial settlements — a common practice in South Korea — also played a factor, Yoon said.

I am actually surprised by this decision and the victim was as well:

Park blasted the judge’s decision outside the courtroom after the case. “I was dumbfounded, confused and unable to believe my ears. I expected [the younger defendant’s] sentence to be suspended, but how can Banks walk away?”

What I find surprising about the sentence is the fact that this crime was more serious than what happened the night of the "Great Shinchon Massacre". In the Taegu case the 18 year old stabbed the cab driver after he had committed a crime.

In the Shinchon stabbing incident the soldier pulled out a knife to defend himself only after he was descended upon by a Korean mob beating him to a pulp and the ironic thing is that this soldier was probably the only person involved in this incident that wasn’t drinking.  This soldier was initially charged with a lesser offense much like what the 18 year old in the Taegu incident was.  

However, the anti-US hate groups got involved, which ironically many of them were members of the mob that beat down the soldiers to begin with, and they demanded he be tried for attempted murder.  Due to the demands of the anti-US groups the judge raised the charges to attempted murder and the soldier was ultimately sentenced to two and half years in Korean prison.  The soldier was literally sacrificed at the altar of Korean public opinion.  To add insult to injury, no one in the Korean mob were ever tried for assaulting the soldiers; in fact they were treated as heroes.   

The incident involving the two USFK teens did not receive the same level of Korean media attention as the Shinchon incident thus the Korean judge could impose what he felt was a fair punishment and not what the anti-US hate groups thought was a fair punishment.  This is Korean justice at work, just ask PFC Acosta. 

You can read more over at Lost Nomad.

 The USFK court-martial results for the month of June are posted on the USFK website.  Here is probably the most interesting conviction this month:

 At a special court-martial on 25 June 2007, Technical Sergeant Christopher S. Bowman, 8th Security Forces Squadron, was convicted of absence without leave, dereliction of duty, false official statement, wrongfully posting sensitive law enforcement information on public internet sites, and wrongfully posting and maintaining information on public internet sites about how to violate military leave policies to travel to foreign countries to have sex by paying bar fines. His adjudged sentence was reduction to E-1, confinement for six months, and a bad conduct discharge.

Another Military Policeman/Security Forces servicemember in trouble, which seems to be a continuing trend.  Overall though USFK behavior was much approved in June compared to past months.

You can read the rest of the results below the fold:

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I fail to see the news value in this the latest English teacher scandal that it should make headlines in the Chosun Ilbo, but heck at least it doesn’t involve GIs.  Marmot has a whole lot more.